Following a series of tremors Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka spewed ash 7.3 km above sealevel on May 29, 2012

Following a series of tremors on May 29, 2012 Russia’s Far East Shiveluch volcano spewed ash high into the sky. The column of ash reached up to 7.3 km above sea-level, according to Itar-Tass news agency.

No impact or damage has been reported. The outburst came in the wake of a chain of seismic events arount the region.

The high, isolated massif of Shiveluch volcano (also spelled Sheveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group. The 1300 cu km Shiveluch is one of Kamchatka’s largest and most active volcanic structures.

The summit of roughly 65,000-year-old Stary Shiveluch is truncated by a broad 9-km-wide late-Pleistocene caldera breached to the south. Many lava domes dot its outer flanks. The Molodoy Shiveluch lava dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within the large horseshoe-shaped caldera; Holocene lava dome extrusion also took place on the flanks of Stary Shiveluch.

At least 60 large eruptions of Shiveluch have occurred during the Holocene, making it the most vigorous andesitic volcano of the Kuril-Kamchatka arc. Widespread tephra layers from these eruptions have provided valuable time markers for dating volcanic events in Kamchatka.

Frequent collapses of dome complexes, most recently in 1964, have produced debris avalanches whose deposits cover much of the floor of the breached caldera.

Shiveluch sits at the intersection of the Kamchatka volcanic line, which runs northeast, and the Aleutian volcanic line, which runs northwest. Junctions such as this are typically points of intense volcanic activity.

View Shiveluch web cam.

Sources: chinadaily.com.cn, volcano.si.edu, earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Featured image credit: earthobservatory.nasa.gov